Lemtrans to order 5,000 Ukrainian freight wagons in 2012

Lemtrans, Ukraine’s largest private freight railcar operator, plans to order 5,000 gondola cars in 2012, a company representative said (via the newspaper Delovaya Stolitsa) yesterday. The company purchased 100 gondolas in 1Q12 and plans to order another 4,900 units by yearend, at an average price of USD 70 ths per wagon.

Roman Dmytrenko: The news is encouraging for local wagon producers Stakhaniv Wagon (SVGZ UK) and Kryukiv Wagon (KVBZ UK). Both private and state-owned Ukrainian freight railcar operators ordered only 5,480 new cars in 2011 (4.8% of total CIS new freight railcar sales), while Lemtrans bought 1,308 last year. All else being equal, the newly announced order from Lemtrans alone could increase domestic demand by 67% in 2012. Apart from boosting domestic demand, the order will ease Ukrainian railcar producers’ dependence on the Russian market as the risk of disruptions in freight railcar export sales to Russia still exists.